


Between Sunset and Sunrise

by Trams



Series: The Speed Dating AU [1]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Time, Humor, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Romance, Speed Dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 23:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12691980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trams/pseuds/Trams
Summary: A meet cute at a speed dating event they were both reluctantly attending





	Between Sunset and Sunrise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [decoy_ocelot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/decoy_ocelot/gifts).



> For the prompt: “I can’t believe you talked me into this”

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Billy groaned while Red opened the door to the bar, hand wrapped tight around Billy’s wrist, as if he thought Billy would make a run for it – he probably would have.

“Oh, come on. Stop whining. This will be a hilarious train wreck.”

“I’m gay you remember that right?” Billy hissed. 

The bar they had entered was in one word: understated. It made Billy think about the pubs he and Vasquez had visited that one weekend in London.

“If you think I would drag you to a straight speed-dating event you don’t know me at all, and I actually think I’d be a little bit offended.” Red turned and gave him a look. Billy sighed heavily, blowing hair away from his forehead.

“Alright, alright, but,” Billy said while Red continued tugging him along up a staircase. “But it’s going to be nothing but white guys who will take one look at me and think I’m not their type, and then there’s going to be either very awkward silence or stilted conversation about the weather.”

Red pushed him down onto a chair by a table next to a bannister, and Billy could see the entrance and a portion of the ground floor.

“Sit,” Red said. “I’m getting drinks, we’re a little bit early.”

Billy groaned and buried his face in his hands.

“You know, I thought college would have killed your interest in observing people,” Billy said, but when he looked up Red was already gone and to the few other people on the second floor it had looked like he was speaking to himself. Billy sighed again.

With nothing left to do he looked around himself and noted the people setting up tables and chairs nearby, and Billy suspected this would be where it all would take place. He took a deep breath, he could do this. He jumped out of planes on a daily basis, this was nothing. 

He glanced at the other people sitting nearby, all of whom were eyeing each other. Billy closed his eyes and shook his head. Footsteps signalled Red’s return, good thing the bar wasn’t very crowded. A glass was set down on the table and Billy grabbed his beer eagerly.

While he drank, more and more people arrived. He had almost finished his beer when the event was about to start. He just so happened to look down at the door when it opened and a black man in slacks, black shirt and dark jacket came through the door, dragging a white man behind, this guy was dressed similarly but wearing a white shirt instead.

“I can’t believe you dragged me along to this,” the white guy said.

“You need to get out, meet people,” his, presumably, friend said. “We’re all concerned about you.”

Billy felt for the dude, at least setting Billy up with someone was just Red’s secondary objective. But he had friends who gave him concerned looks, and in that very patronizing voice asked him if he had met anyone lately.

“It’s not too late to go do something different,” the man protested. Billy didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he wasn’t exactly speaking quietly. “I’ll go to a ballgame with you. Come on, Sam. You know how much I hate baseball.”

“Goody,” the man, apparently named Sam, said. “It’s November, the season is over.”

They started climbing the staircase at the same time as Red said,

“It’s starting.”

Billy sighed.

*

While the host explained the rules for the event, Billy checked his phone, hoping desperately for some kind of emergency he had to rush out and deal with, sadly he wasn’t so lucky. He was also stealing glances at the table where the guy and his friend Sam sat. He told himself it was because that guy also didn’t want to be there; and not because he was actually really rather good looking.

The speed-dating started too soon, and much like Billy’s prediction it was mostly a lot of awkward silences, broken by the occasional person who at least made an attempt at small talk, all the while clearly having no interest in Billy. If he was honest with himself, he wasn’t trying very hard to seem interested either.

Eventually though he found himself seated opposite from the guy he had seen earlier. He thought his friend had called him Goody, but that didn’t seem like a name.

“Let me guess,” the man said, before Billy could open his mouth. “You’re a lion tamer.”

A surprised bark of laughter escaped Billy and he looked at the man who was looking back at him with a grin, blue eyes sparkling. Bill would guess he was in his 30’s, so around Billy’s own age. His brown hair was tousled, in a way that looked styled rather than “just got out of bed and only ran my fingers through my hair”; he had the beginnings of a neatly trimmed goatee, in a slightly lighter shade of brown than his hair. When he smiled it reached his eyes which crinkled showing off laugh lines.

“What?” Billy asked.

“Turned it into a game,” the man said, shrugging. “Come up with a completely ridiculous profession for everyone. Some seem to appreciate it as an icebreaker. Most just seem confused. So, are you?”

“Am I what?” Billy asked.

“A lion tamer?”

“Only in my spare time,” Billy said, and smiled. The delighted smile sent his way was dazzling, and Billy’s stomach twisted, much to Billy’s surprise.

“And what do you do when you are not turning ferocious beasts into docile house cats?”

“I’m a skydiving instructor,” Billy said.

“Oh, that’s cool.”

The few people who had asked Billy about what he did had said that, usually followed by some form of “isn’t it dangerous?”; or “I could never do that”; or “I’m afraid of heights”; or “is that a real job?”. The man opposite of Billy though gave him a curious look and said:

“You ever run into any birds who are confused as to why a human is flying around with them in the sky?”

“Oh, all the time,” Billy said. “But once they get over their initial confusion they are usually very helpful at pointing to the ground to make sure I find the way.”

This made the man laugh, and it felt like Billy’s heart did a little skip, and there was definitely a flutter in his stomach.

“I saw you when you arrived,” Billy said. “Your friend drag you here?”

“Ah, yes. He claims he just worries that I’m lonely. But I think he’s just reached a point where his sister will no longer let him try and run her life, so he’s turning his meddling onto me instead.”

“Well, if you had been here earlier you would have seen me get dragged in here by my friend so…”

“Ah, so neither of us want to be here. Well it’s nice to meet a like minded soul. My name is Goodnight Robicheaux, but you can call me Goody.” He reached out his hand.

“Billy Rocks.” He reached out his hand towards Goody, but instead of shaking his hand, Goody grabbed it and turned Billy’s knuckles up, and then pressed a light kiss to the back of his hand.

“Enchante, Billy Rocks,” Goody said, and smiled. 

The fluttering in Billy’s stomach grew, and he wanted to groan, because he did not want to admit to Red or their other friends that he’d met someone at a speed dating event, or that he was so easily won over by this ridiculous man. At that moment the bell rang signaling it was time to switch partners. Billy got to his feet reluctantly, his hand still in Goody’s grip, which was warm and firm.

“You want to get out of here?” Goody asked.

Billy glanced over at Red, and discovered he was looking at them with a curious expression. Billy looked back at Goody, and squeezed his hand.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

They headed out into the dark, chilly November night and started walking down the street.

“I’ve never been in this part of town,” Goody said.

“I’m not usually here a lot either,” Billy said. “So why not explore it. It can be an adventure.”

“Oh, an adventure, I like the sound of that.”

And a much better story for the “how did you meet”-questions. Although that could just be Billy’s brain running away with him.

They walked and talked. Briefly touching on the subject of things they liked, and didn’t like. They talked about their jobs – Goody worked as a nightwatchman, “it’s why Sam has gotten the idea into his head that I’m lonely, because I work such odd hours” – and what they did in their spare time. But soon enough they moved on to talking more about themselves, opening up in a way Billy rarely did, but it felt easy to do it with a stranger, or perhaps it was just Goody who made it easy. Goody talked about the war and coming back to try and get used to civilian life again. Billy talked about moving to America and trying to fit in.

They climbed a gate to enter a park closed for the night and walked through the pitch black darkness. Talking about their families. Billy’s parents always so supportive of him, even though he knew he’d not lived up to any of their expectations for him. Goody talked about losing his family at eighteen and trying to get by on his own, until Sam met him and he and his younger sister took him in.

Moving on from the park and the subject of family Goody told him funny stories about the things he and Sam had gotten into, and Billy told him embarrassing stories about college. They found a place serving food all night, and sat down in a booth, eating and making each other laugh. He texted Red, telling him he’d left, but everything was alright.

It was early morning when they stumbled out of the diner, tired, and full and happy.

“You should come skydiving with me,” Billy murmured as they walked down the street, there was a slowly growing light on the horizon.

“Sure,” Goody said, looking at BIlly with an expression that made Billy wonder if he had even heard what Billy said.

“I’m glad I met you, Goodnight Robicheaux,” Billy said.

“And I’m glad I met you, Billy Rocks,” Goody said, and stopped walking, so Billy stopped as well and turned to look at him. They were the same height and so he met his eyes, which really were a lovely blue color.

“Can I kiss you?” Goody asked.

Billy licked his lips and nodded. Goody reached out, cupping Billy’s face in both hands, and Billy leaned in, closing his eyes. His heart soared as their mouths met in a slow kiss.

*

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Goody complained as they got on the plane. “Can’t we just skip the whole jumping out of the plane, and join the mile high club instead?”

“No fucking on my plane,” Faraday said as he walked past them towards the cockpit, and pointed at the sign saying “No Fucking On The Plane”. Faraday was a hypocrite though, Billy had found more than one pair of panties, and one time a red lace bra on the plane.

“It’s going to be fine,” Billy said, and they sat down next to each other, buckling the seat belts. Billy took hold of Goody’s hand and the other he rest on Goody’s cheek, turning him to face Billy.

“I won’t let anything happen you,” he said, and leaned in to kiss him.

“No fucking on the plane!” Faraday shouted. “We’ll be taking off soon anyway.”

Billy chuckled as did Goody. He pulled back and looked at Goody, at the face which he had seen so much of the past few weeks and grown so unbelievably fond of. He stroked his cheek.

“I might have preferred if you actually were a lion tamer,” Goody mumbled. Billy snorted.

“That would probably have been more dangerous you know.”

“Maybe.”

“Still happy you met me?”

Goody lifted their joined hands, and smiled at him before kissing the back of Billy’s knuckles.

“Always,” Goody said. Billy’s felt overwhelmed by the wave of affection washing over his chest and he leaned in and pressed another kiss to Goody’s mouth. Delighted to have found this man who made him happy and went along with Billy’s ideas. He’d told all his friends he and Goody had just met by chance, until Red revealed the truth, but it didn’t really matter, because in the end Billy was just happy to have met Goody.


End file.
